Malkangiri: In an amazing turn of events, a man of this district, who had gone missing about 20 years back leaving his wife and two kids, suddenly returned home Saturday.
The incident has been reported from MPV-29 village of Mangipalli panchayat under Kalimela police limits.
The joy of the family members of Bholanath Mandal knew no bounds after seeing him back.
Bholanath was 34 when he had disappeared from the village leaving behind his wife Anjali and two sons – Jagadish (5) and Mantu (4).
Bholanath’s elder brother Sambhunath and younger brother Bankim did everything to trace him out but did not succeed. They even had spent thousands of rupees to search for him in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh but without much success.
“According to the Hindu rituals, the villagers and the relatives asked us to perform Bholanath’s last rites after 10 years of his missing. However, we didn’t succumb to that pressure and were hopeful of his return,” said Sambhunath.
Meanwhile, the properties of the family had been distributed between the three brothers.
With Bholanath missing, his wife had to flee to AP to work as a cook with a contract firm to support her family of three. She even managed to get her elder son married. The younger Mantu, being physically-challenged person, was working as a daily labourer.
In the mean time, a hotel owner at Malkangiri bus stand happened to meet Bholanath when the latter was roaming around asking for a job. On being enquired, Bholanath said he was a native of MPV-29 village. Learning that Bholanath was confined to a room in some place of Andhra Pradesh for years, the hotel owner contacted his family members in the village.
The family rushed to the hotel and identified Bholanath with tears rolling down their cheeks.
Bholanath’s mother-in-law said her son-in-law had been tortured and detained by some persons after he was taken to the neighbouring state on the promise of a job.
The family sources said Bholanath is not in good mental state and they would ask him about what happened with him once he is recovered.
